Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Alstroemeria hybrida cultivar Zanissa.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Alstroemeria plant, botanically known as Alstroemeria hybrida, commercially used as a cut flower Alstroemeria, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Zanissaxe2x80x99.
The new Alstroemeria is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillegom, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new cut flower Alstroemeria cultivars with attractive flower colors and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Alstroemeria originated from a cross made by the Inventor in Hillegom, The Netherlands, of a proprietary Alstroemeria hybrida selection identified as 41197-002, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent, with a proprietary Alstroemeria hybrida selection identified as HA07, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Alstroemeria was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Hillegom, The Netherlands in 1994. The selection of this new Alstroemeria was based on its attractive flower colors.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by root divisions taken in a controlled environment in Rijsenhout, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Alstroemeria are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
Plants of the cultivar Zanissa have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Zanissaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Zanissaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar.
1. Erect flowering stems.
2. Light orange, red purple and yellow-colored flowers with dark purple spots.
3. Excellent postproduction longevity.
Plants of the new Alstroemeria are most similar to plants of the parent selections. However, plants of the new Alstroemeria differ from plants of the female parent in plant growth habit; and plants of the new Alstroemeria differ from plants of the male parent in flower coloration.